ITF is the original style of TaeKwonDo. Here are some of the pros and cons as I see them

+ lots of mitts work

- undue time given to patterns

+ 50/50 training on punching and kicking

- no real training in head movement

+ cool kicks

- some kicks need modification in a sparring format (heavy chambering is easily telegraphed) making you train techniques that arent applicable

+ nice conditioning

- sparring does not allow low kicks

+ sparring allows punches to the face

- sparring does not allow more than two punches in succession, and only straight punches are permitted.

What do you guys think about ITF TaeKwonDo?

10/28/2017 8:13am,

BackFistMonkey

MMA and Combat Sports Forum: Boxing, UFC, etc. ------> YMAS

Your content sucks.

10/28/2017 8:21am,

Heuristic

I have placed it correctly

10/28/2017 8:39am,

BackFistMonkey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heuristic

I have placed it correctly

Some random stupid staff member disagreed.

10/28/2017 8:58am,

Heuristic

Lol. The sparring rules are kickboxing but maybe that's not a combat sport

11/03/2017 3:26am,

Guird

This thread is about the style as a whole, correct? Not just its competitive format?

My impression of ITF taekwondo is that it's even variable than WTF for quality, with some tippy-tappy sparring schools, some full contact. Is this roughly correct?

11/03/2017 8:04am,

Heuristic

It depends on who you spar in the club. Those with kickboxing background go full swing on the shots, those that are pure ITF tend to throw more push kicks.

I go full contact to the body with the kickboxers, and semi contact to the face.

We are taught to drive through the targets in mitts practise though. So the competition rules does not shape our training. Some bad trainers will though, but not the old school ones.

11/03/2017 9:50am,

BackFistMonkey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heuristic

It depends on who you spar in the club. Those with kickboxing background go full swing on the shots, those that are pure ITF tend to throw more push kicks.

I go full contact to the body with the kickboxers, and semi contact to the face.

We are taught to drive through the targets in mitts practise though. So the competition rules does not shape our training. Some bad trainers will though, but not the old school ones.

This topic has been beat to death. Training methods matter more than style, because the basics are really what counts and most effective striking martial arts share the basic concepts of power generation and structural support and balance. TKD, in general, is a mediocre striking art because it varies from the tried and true methods of power generation of boxing, muay thai, savate, kontact karates and kickboxing. It can get the job done, technically, especially against an untrained rube, but tends to fall apart out of an individuals weight class in the streets and against people who actually fight in most any situation.

11/03/2017 10:23am,

BackFistMonkey

TKD is basically korean foot wing chun but light contact limited rule set ( occasionally medium contact and scrappy) based instead of mostly faith based, so it has that going for it.

11/04/2017 9:00am,

Heuristic

Quote:

Originally Posted by BackFistMonkey

This topic has been beat to death. Training methods matter more than style, because the basics are really what counts and most effective striking martial arts share the basic concepts of power generation and structural support and balance. TKD, in general, is a mediocre striking art because it varies from the tried and true methods of power generation of boxing, muay thai, savate, kontact karates and kickboxing. It can get the job done, technically, especially against an untrained rube, but tends to fall apart out of an individuals weight class in the streets and against people who actually fight in most any situation.